Party 16

Status
Not open for further replies.
Reader mode
"Actually he's already written us a letter to check in town," says Faria lifting a letter from her pocket before frowning a moment as she see's some of her own blood had gotten onto the letter. "Mishka attempted to kill me, does he only do that to strangers?" Faria asked as she set Mishka down on the straw ground. "I'll speak with Sharath about it briefly before we head into town. It really wouldn't help the abbey's image if I were to head to down like this," says Faria as she heads for the stairs. She stops momentarly as she is about to pass Arback. "Remember me for next time will you?" she says momentarily trying to capture his attention. Whether success or failure she then heads up the stairs looking for the abbot, and possibly a healing spell.
 
Astryos stands in the doorway deflated by how the events turned out, "I'm glad you're alright, Faria. I see you've all taken stock from the storage shed. I think I'll have a quick look around there as well before we head into town. Cloven," he calls out to the Siamese man, "Are there any more like Mishka whom we need to be cautious of before I head back?"
 
Last edited:
cloven_s.jpg"It's Mishka's new hobby, the ambush game. Can't say anyone appreciates it much. Might be time for him to go in with the rest of the family until he gets better." Cloven has converted the small wagon into a sort of tea service, laden with trays and utensils. Arback waits patiently with the heavy pot. "No worries now," he says to Astryos. "Otto, Zygfrek and Marzena are just as sane as Bella and I."

Seeing Faria's letter, Cloven becomes quite serious. "Oh, if it's official business from the Abbott, you'd best be on your way then. No napping on the slab for you!"

It's just a short jaunt up the creaky stairs to the office where Faria last saw Sharath about a half hour ago. The Abbott is still seated at his desk, but he is slumped over with his curly-haired head buried in his arms.
 
Faria looks down at Cloven as he mentioned their business being urgent and that Mishka might be on the edge of needing to be contained. "I wouldn't suggest putting him in with anyone else, you'd be surprised at what people can kill others with. I would hate for someone to die before Sharath could work his magics to cure his insanity," says Faria as she worked her way up the stairs out of sight. Upon reaching the Abbot and seeing the state he currently was in, she lightly tapped the door and walked into the room. "Excuse me Sharath, we were about to leave when we had the... unfortunate pleasure of running into Mishka who decided he really liked biting and playing with knives."

She motions briefly with her right hand to her left shoulder pulling the cloth slightly to the side to reveal where Mishka had bit her twice. The blood was already drying. It was a moment as she picked her words carefully. "Do you think the town's folk will ever accept your flock for what they are...?"
 
Sharath looks up, still hunched over, when Faria speaks. His eyes are bloodshot, bleary. "Mishka? Yes ... Mishka. What has changed so suddenly in the boy?" He sighs. His voice is soft and subdued, quite different from the bold confident tone he took earlier. He reaches out to touch Faria's wound. His hand rests heavy on her shoulder as he closes his eyes in concentration. "No. It seems I am drained from the earlier procedure, though that is not..." He removes his hand and regards it for a moment. "I must rest some more, then I can undo Mishka's mischief."

"And the Washems: What they are ... not what they will be. The people of Krezk, yes, they are afraid. But their lives are short. Their children will know future Washems, beautiful and perfect."

"Please, Faria, send Bella. She will help me."
 
"Do not exert yourself further than you need Sharath. One more scar to my collection will hardly be a notice," says Faria as suddenly she feels all the raking scars across her back. They all tingled in a light senstation as if to remind her that they were there. Unlike the other memories she had, this one was firm and vivid. The Forest... Howling, and Barking... The pain and exhaustion as something scarred her back. Faria was almost drawn back into that memory which she forced down as she always did.

"It does take time to overcome prejudices, and I hope in the end you will be able to help these people. For now I'd keep Mishka somewhere more secure," says Faria as she sets down the bag and takes out the medical box she had found when originally waking up. "I'm afraid I do not know where Bella ran off to but I will search for her before I leave. Are you sure you don't need any other help or anything from town?"

Faria takes out a needle and thread before beginning to quickly with practice that comes from soldiering sews the wound shut. It is not the prettiest of work because of the angle but it is functional. "When we return I'll have questions for you. About the Lord of this land, I think he holds some of the keys to my past or at least my most recent past. For some reason I feel like I may have met him in the past," says Faria as she is putting away the tools, and closes the box putting them in the bag. "I'll go try and find Bella for you now. Rest easy Sharath, you have faithful and good friends to help you through such hardships. That is not an easy thing to come by."

Despite saying that she was going to find Bella Faria instead heads to where they first woke up to change into the leather armor she had found out in the shed and secure her many odd daggers where she could easily have them. She placed two at her sides, and the fold up straight razor in the side of her boot. Then she exited heading to look for Bella to tell her the Abbott requested her presence and help before rejoining her allies.
 
Cassandra is relieved at the relative calm of things. It had been starting to look like a fight was going to start. Still, the tension breaker draws Cassandras gaze. She knows he probably shouldn't...but two heads? Unsettling, to say the least. Although she wonders if it is even the oddest thing shes seen up to this point.
She shakes her head. She just needed to focus on the task at hand. She nods as Astryos mentions the shed. "I'll come with you" she says. "Probably would be better to have more than a long stick." She follows after the other monk, hoping that he could replace some of the things she had lost. She finds a pack and quickly begins stuffing in things that could be useful.
 
Sharath simply shakes his head no to Faria's question about other help, then rests it back on the desk. His eyes flutter shut.

To get back to the morgue, Faria has to open the door between the office and hallway. Once more she's faced with the sight of the closed, locked door on the left with the large glyphs on it, the open door to the operating room, the closed door to the room of broken furniture, and the open door to the morgue. When Faria has donned the leather armor in the morgue, and is checking the positioning of her blades, a large black bird, either a raven or a crow, flutters up from outside to perch on the sill of the open window. It opens its beak and lets out a series of rattling squawks. The bird sidesteps on the sill and tilts its head to one side, watching Faria.

Downstairs, where Varius waits, Cloven and Arback have begun serving soup to the Washems. The short, two-headed man produces a large ring of keys and unlocks the first door on the left. Voices mutter from beyond, hard to hear above the ruckus coming from the other cells. Cloven fills some bowls and takes them into the room, saying something in Elvish that Varius cannot understand as he does. Still unconscious on the ground, Mishka breathes quietly.

It only takes a few minutes for Astryos and Cassandra to get back to the shed. The clouds overhead have darkened somewhat. Perhaps it will rain. The two of them begin searching the shelves for items to take with on the trip down to the town of Krezk. It will take a while to gather everything together. Astryos' progress is slowed because he keeps startling at what seem to be rodents or large insects rushing over the items here. Cassandra is fortunate not to find find any such vermin as she searches.
 
Faria bends a few directions checking the leather isn't catching at any point before a flutter of wings draw's her attention. The raven that has found itself on window squawks at her and moves to the side of the window. Odd, but what hadn't been odd since she had woken up from... death? What was another omen or two? 'Then again, Crows, and Ravens are often scavengers and are fairly intelligent. Probably why wizards end up choosing them,' thought Faria as she gives the bird a second glance. "Hungry? I'm afraid I don't have anything for you, I'm not even carrying any food for myself," says Faria as she slowly attempts to approach the window and the bird to look out it. Her mind drifts to that door now that she has a full stomach and a small amount of armor. Sharath was asleep and it would be a good chance to take a peek without the Abbott possibly knowing.

Deciding to investigate the window where the bird was she carefully approaches, and takes a look out the window. Seeing nothing but the approaching storm she wonders if for a moment the bird actually was trying to tell her anything or just someone in the morgue fed the bird sometimes or left bodies unattended. Faria brushed that thought away and noticed a bit of barding on the bird holding a parchment. She eyed the bird as it cocked it's head in her direction obviously noting her sudden attention towards it. Faria decides to act quickly snatching the parchment quickly rather than get close slowly and be thwarted in the attempt. As Tymora would have it, she manages to snag it right as the bird retreats out the window. 'At least some things don't go away,' she muses to herself as she opens the parchment carefully. It contains three symbols, of which order and meaning escape her. A Tree, Bird, and Cresent Moon. She'd used ciphers in the past to mark territory when scouting to let others know there was water, or enemies. Or just dangerous creatures that lived in the area. Unforunately most of those were specifically tailored so that only a few individuals would know what it meant.

'Does this mean someone is passing information into... or out of the abbey that they don't want communicated should it be intercepted?' wondered Faria as she pondered whether to keep it or not. Deciding to give it more thought later she tucked it into the front of her armor just in case someone decided to search her. 'No need to carry around something that could read 'kill the count!' or 'the abbot's a traitor!' Hopefully I can find another sample or two around if not I'll have to burn it soon.'

With that complete she headed out into the hallway and looked at the door before her. Faria hesitated for a moment, before whispering under her breath, "Should I really be doing this alone... probably not but... 'nothing ventured nothing gained.' as they say." Faria took a moment to examine the door for any obvious traps but knew she didn't have much time before the possibility of having someone walking down the hallway and seeing her pass into the door.
 
Last edited:
Nothing new stands out about the glyph-inscribed door at the center of the hall. As Astryos noted earlier, it is fitted with somewhat newer hardware—keyplate, hinges, handle—and is locked. The glyphs are of different sizes and painted in different colors.

Downstairs, where Varius waits for Faria, Cloven and Arback have moved on to serving the second cell on the left. It's a much noisier group than the first. Sounds of shouting and laughter come from the doorway. Cloven hollers in and Arback crouches down to squeeze inside before things calm down and the meal can be served. Cloven's smaller head begins mewling, and he stops to take a bottle of amber liquid from his robes. He uncorks it, dabs a bit on his finger, and the crying head suckle on it until it calms and goes back to sleep.

Near Varius, Mishka is snoring and tossing fitfully where he lies.
 
Faria uses this moment to search over the door checking along the sides for any sort of latch or hidden spring that might signal a trap before looking briefly through the keyhole. Failing to see much beyond a bed and a metal box she takes out the small scalpel and hooks from within the medical kit. They weren't quiet thieves tools but they would have to work at the moment for her curiosity. After a prolonged moment there is the familiar click of a lock picked, and she puts everything back into her bag before reaching up and slowly opening the door. Her attention is drawn very rapidly to the figure across the room. A greyish expressionless thing looking in her direction. The immediate sight was off putting however something else was finally starting to draw her attention. The sound of paint peeling off the walls, as an oily figure slide down in front of the door.

'Something's guarding this place,' she thought not really giving herself a chance to finish all of the thought process and jumping into action. As the shape reached out towards her hand still on the door she let go of it just in time to avoid it's touch. She judged quickly that shutting the door wasn't going to be an option and instead drew one of her daggers cutting the thing across mid mass and retreating. Faria felt the blade tear across.... something and shadowy smoke seemed to leak out of the form. Not wanting to find out if the cold emanating from the creature was just her imagination or what it would do if it touched her, she decided to turn on a heel and sprint to the next door stopping for a moment to look back and shut the door. She looked to the Abbot for a moment who still seemed to be asleep. 'Damn it all I can't leave him here if it comes through.'

Instead Faria took a few steps back from the door. "Sharath, wake up. I may have poked somewhere my nose didn't belong."
 
Varius waits for the others to all return, trying to ignore the feeding that is going on around him. Hearing the sounds of scuffling upstairs, followed by what sounds like Faria getting into trouble, Varius draws his axes, and heads back upstairs, ready for trouble. Arriving to find a sleeping Abbott and Faria watching the door cautiously, he listens as she quickly recounts the situation. Glancing from the door to the Abbott, and back up, he snorts.
"It seems our gracious host is keeping more secrets than he is divulging, and I doubt this is least of it. I think it best we get out of here quickly, before whatever that thing is comes looking for us."
 
Last edited:
From beyond the closed door, Faria and Varius hear an anguished cry that Faria recognizes as Bella. "No, too soon! Not yet!" A door slams.

A moment later, something like a dark sheet slides effortlessly under the closed door, then rapidly rises and expands to assume a featureless humanoid shape. There is dim light here in the office, coming in through the intact windows to your left, and the shadow creature stands out in stark contrast. It glides rapidly towards Faria, reaching out overextended arms to embrace her. Fast on its heels, more distended shadow shapes slide around and under the door, filling that end of the room with darkness as they take misshapen humanoid form.

The shadow creature wraps itself around Faria, sending numbing chills through her body. She shudders and feels the vitality being drawn out of her. In her mind, a gentle voice that feels like it comes from the shadow creature says, "Faria! You have returned to us. We feared you all perished at the castle. It's me, Opal. Let me tend to your wounds." Faria suddenly remembers Opal, the healer here at the abbey, before she loses consciousness and slumps to the floor.

The other shadow creatures, at least five in all, begin crowding in towards Varius, bringing their dark, frigid umbrae with them.
 
Last edited:
As the shadow lashes out and Faria drops, Varius instinctively stows one of his axes and grabs her, slinging her roughly over his shoulder as he makes a run for the door.
 
Faria looks briefly to Varius almost as if ready to throw her knife, but relaxes at the sight of her companion, the one she currently trusts the most. "Remember that door? Something unfriendly is in there," says Faria unaware of the shadow looming out from under the door with this momentary distraction. She reads the look on Varius' face a moment too late. She goes to dodge, and if she hadn't allowed herself to be momentarily distracted she sees she would have escaped it's grasp. Instead she feels a cold embrace, which at first she wonders if someone had opened a window. The cold snowy air of the outside, and the cold stone of the morgue.

A moment later it passes into an even deeper cold, one that is both unfamiliar and yet she feels as if she has experienced it before. She hears a distance voice calling to her, from yet another released memory. 'It seems pain is the key to my memories,' she half forms the thought before fully being wrapped up in the memory. Opal the healer, just what she needed in this moment. Feeling the cold spreading she embraces the shadowy figure, feeling the strength leaving her arms, and legs as Opal begins to begin his work of healing. She can already feel the numbing affect of the pain rescinding.

"I never meant to k..." says Faria as she trails off barely conscious. She is on her feet only for a moment longer before her legs give out from under her, and by the time she hits the floor her world is swallowed by blackness.
 
shadow.jpgAs Varius nears the bottom of the creaky stairs, with Faria hoisted on his shoulders, he hears the Abbot's weakened, strained voice from up in the office. "What? What is this? No, you are not ready. Back to your room, all of you. By Ilmater's wounds, I swear we will find your bodies. I command..." There's a skidding noise, then a heavy thud and sounds of struggle.

A terrible chill rises at Varius' back as he continues to the bottom of the staircase; the hairs on his neck bristle. The shadow thing is right behind him, spreading its cold, enervating aura. Cloven and Arback are visible at the far end of the long, dark hall. Cloven curses and slings a ladle full of soup at the bars of the last cell on the left, before turning to look at Varius and Faria, surprise on his horned face. Arback remains characteristically indifferent.

The open front door to the inner courtyard is 30' away. Mishka lies unconscious nearby.
 
Cassandra walks back with Astryos, pack weighed down with everything she could think of use. The process hadn't been quick, but she is confident it had been thorough. Not exactly my old things...but it'll do. She looks up hearing a commotion in the east wing. Dinner for the Washems, she assumes. Just then, a knot, deep and twisted, forms in the pit of her stomach. Her skin prickles with goosebumps. Something is wrong.
The half elf often tried to keep her superstitions in check, but this is different. There was something bad, she's sure of it. She pauses only long enough to say "We need to find the others, there's trouble" to her elf companion before breaking into a sprint.
She moves quickly, hoping that she could be wrong about this, that she was just being a worriwart.
The sight inside only confirms her fears.
She sees Varius moving forward, carrying an unmoving Faria. And she sees the shadows grasping at both behind them.
They will all die because you were careless. The words echo in her mind, a nightmare or memory now crushingly prophetic. She isn't sure what led to this, but the fact is still clear: she hadn't been diligent, and the consequences are playing out before her. Careless. "Astryos hurry!" she calls behind her. "They need help in here!"
 
The Wood Elf raises an eyebrow at Cassandra's concern, "What do you mean?" But she's gone before she can answer. He drops his pack and begins to jog after her, "Hey! Cassandra!" but before he can get another word out she calls for him to hurry. He picks up his pace, "What's going on?" he says, approaching cautiously, spear in hand, ready for a fight.
 
Once he reaches the bottom of the stairs, Varius doesn't stop. Feeling the cold presence of the thing behind him, he keeps his head down, shouting at the two monks that had just returned as he tries to get away.
"We've got a whole lot of trouble coming this way, and Faria does not look like she'll hold out for that much longer."
 
The shadow creature chasing Varius catches up with him twenty feet from the stairs. Its dark extended hand reaches around and covers his face, freezing his cheeks and lips. "Varius," says a woman's voice that only he hears, "You are here as well. Are you hurt? What of the others? Please, tell me Aurica is with you." The creature's chill touch is greedy, desperate for reassurance. It seems to draw sustenance out of Varius' very being.

Two other shadow creatures come down the stairs behind this one. The first darts down the hallway, sliding under the door of the first cell on the left. There are whimper and cries from within. The other shadow continues down the hall, out of sight from where all of you now stand. You hear a jingling of keys, and Cloven's voice shouts, "Arback, attack apparition!" Arback's low monotone answers, "Attack." There are heavy footsteps, a grunt, a muffled thud.

The Abbot's groans echo down the stairs. "Stop. Must I destroy you?" Soon after, yet another shadow appears at the foot of the stairs

 
Cassandra takes in the situation and feels herself moving forward to the two. Medicine, Faria grabbed some sort of medicine, she remembers. The half elf quickly grabbed what she could off of the fallen elf. The rogue looks like she is not breathing. Cassandra looks at the items available to her. Nothing seems particularly useful, especially with no visible wound, but then her eyes fall on a simple syringe. The simple tube contains some sort of liquid in it, swirling as the monk moves it. Cassandra doesn't even give pause to consider, hopes for the best, and stabs it into the fallen elf, pressing down the plunger.

At first, the concoction seems to have no effect. Then, Faria begins to twitch. The uneasy rise and fall of breathing soon follows. Did...that work? Cassandra wonders to herself. Her internal inquiry stops as she sees the shadowy figure shift. Right.

"Varius, get her out of here, I'll try to keep this thing busy," she says, moving towards the being. She means to sound confident, but instead the words come more as a panicked shout. The half elf grips her staff in both hands, nervously staring down the assailant.
 
After a few more chaotic moments of struggle, Varius, Astryos and unconscious Faria are in the courtyard outside the East Wing, with the shadow that spoke as Opal finally dispersed by a blow from the axe held in Varius' fresh, monstrous arm. Cassandra is still inside, being harassed and weakened by the shadow that speaks as Moire. Its latest touch has triggered a state of existential doubt in Cassandra, paralyzing her with indecision.

That massive, scarred and inarticulate brute Arback emerges from the first cell on the left, having apparently dispatched the shadow creature that got in there. While Cloven's infant head bawls in distress, his horned adult head yells a command that is barely audible over the frenzied squawking of the penned Washem clan. Arback stomps down the hallway to the shadow that dances around Cassandra. He clenches one of his gnarled fists and swings. His blow plunges into the thing and scatters its dark form into the corners of the room. Cloven yells something about the Abbot, and Arback turns at once towards the stairs, while Cloven closes and locks the cell door.
 
Once outside, Varius releases the breath he didn't realise he had been holding.
"I do not like this place at all. There is clearly a darker side to it all. Despite how it seems, this is a place of death and darkness. Once Cassandra gets out here, I think it best we leave and see if we can't find some answers in the village below."
 
For a while, everything around Cassandra is incomorehensible. She sees swirling shadows, hears voices whisperimg to her...Moire? No, perhaps Strahd's...she shudders, the memory, or perhaps nightmare being experienced all over again. She wonders if this is reality, maybe all the other things were just distractions to make her forget that she was dying...
Then a large shape fills her vision.
She feels the air itself part as a gnarled fist passes her eyes. Arback, she remembers. The shadow that had been tormwnting her parts, disappating. Adrenaline begins to kick in and the half elf orients herself. This is real, she reminds herself, despite the vivid memory dancing in the back of her mind.
Cassandra looks up as she hears another voice. It speaks about the Abbot. Numbly, she starts to piece the situation together. If thes shadows had attacked them...the Abbot may be in touble. The monk grits her teeth. Before she even sets herself to check her feet have already begun to move, towards the stairs where the shadows seemed to come from.
 
Cassandra's quick feet take her past the lumbering Arback and up the darkened stairs, into the light of the Abbot's office. At first it appears that the Abbot is collapsed on the floor, unmoving, with one of the black shadow-things pressing down on top of him. But it's soon clear that while the man on the floor wears the Abbot's robes, his face is completely different—younger and beautiful, even in this state. There's a dagger on the floor near his open hand.

The shadow on top of the unconscious man rises to a hunched posture and slides off of him, towards Cassandra.
 
Reader mode
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 9 (members: 0, guests: 9)
Back
Top